Studies on the occurrence and distribution of heavy metals in sediments in Lagos Lagoon and their effects on benthic microbial population

An investigation was conducted to assess the concentration of heavy metals in sediments in three selected locations along Lagos lagoon comprising University of Lagos, Ebute Metta and Ijora zones and correlate the effect of metal concentrations on benthic microbial population vis a vis the open water bacterial population. Physiochemical analysis revealed a pH of 8.94, 11.98 and 7.82 of University of Lagos, Ebute Metta and Ijora zones respectively. The concentration of lead was more in Ebute Metta zone (Oko Oba) with a value of 22.75 mg/100 g, while the concentration of iron was more in Ijora zone with a value of 45.31 mg/100 g. The concentration of Cadmium was higher than other zones in Ebute Metta with a value of 14.63 mg/100 g. Mercury was more concentrated in University of Lagos zone with a value of 7.83 mg/100 g, while the value for chromium was more in Ebute Metta sediments with a value of 6.81 mg/100 g. Levene’s statistical analysis shows there is no significant difference in the variances for all metals across the three locations understudy. However, ANOVA analysis shows that mean measurements for all metals across the three locations are significantly different at 5% level of significance except for mercury where the mean measurements were not significantly different at 5% level of confidence. The benthic population (bacteria) was less than that of surface water (control).University of Lagos had the highest bacterial mean cfu/ml determined by log10 with a value 6.81 for control and 3.51 for sediments. The cfu value for fungi for control samples for University of Lagos zone, Ebute Metta and Ijora were 1.7, 1.54 and 1.6 respectively. The bacteria isolated and identified were Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus licheniformis, Arthrobacter sp and Achromobacter sp. Fungi isolated were Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida utilissima and Sporobolomyces sp. The values for heavy metals for all zones are of public health significance and pose a threat to the survival of both humans and aquatic life. An immediate attention from concerned authorities is required in order to protect the Lagos lagoon and its dependants from further pollution and diseases

Differences in Applying Gender Double Standards to STEM Careers through Narratives

The purpose of this thesis was to explore further reasons for the underrepresentation of women in STEM careers, by determining whether there were differences in perception of STEM careers based on gender double standards and motivational environment. Participants were asked to read one of four narratives featuring a graduate student in a STEM field. Each narrative differed across two manipulated variables: the gender of the main character, and whether it was an individualist or collaborative motivational environment. After reading the narrative, participants evaluated the character’s traits using masculine and feminine characteristics (Bem, 1974), as well as their perceived likability and ability in their career. We also asked participants a series of other measures that included their personal interest and opinions in STEM careers. Results included a main effect of character gender on perceived femininity and likability, and of motivational environment on perceived masculinity. Results also suggested that men were perceived to be more typical in an individualistic environment, while women were perceived as more typical in a collaborative environment and a similar trend emerged for perceptions of success. These findings, which confirm the influence of gender and also further evidence of the effect of motivational environment, provide several implications for differences in perception of STEM careers, and women’s interest in pursuing them.Bachelor of Scienc

Identification of subdominant lactic acid bacteria in dawadawa (a soup condiment) and their evolution during laboratory-scale fermentation of Parkia biglobosa (African locust beans)

The successive colonization of fermenting African locust beans (Parkia biglobosa) by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) was investigated for seven days. The LAB isolated were Pediococcus pentosaceus, Lactobacillus raffinolactus, Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Leuconostoc sp, Pediococcus halophilus,Pediococcus sp, Lactobacillus sp, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus brevis. The first dominant species were P. pentosaceus, which was more in abundance, L. raffinolactus, L. mesenteroides and another Leuconostoc sp. At the end of fermentation, a stable community comprising of P. halophilus, P. pentasaceus and L. brevis was formed. The dominant genera in this study were Lactobacillus and Pediococcus. The proximate analysis of the fermenting andfermented mash showed an increase in moisture content from 55.1 to 65.2%, pH from 6.25 to a stable alkaline value of 8.4. The reducing sugar however, decreased from 0.96 to 0.58 mg. The amino acid content increased from an initial value of 8.13 to 35.55 mg for the laboratory-scale product, whereas the value of the control was 13.4 mg. The total viable count increased from an initial value of log102.6 to log105.8 and then fell to a final value of log104.1. The enterococci count increased initially but eventually fell to zero. The total yeast count increased initially from log105.3 to log106.6 and thereafter fell to zero. The market sample had a value of log101.5. No coliforms were found in the course of fermentation as well as in the final product of the laboratory-scale experiment and the market sample

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts

Pan-cancer Alterations of the MYC Oncogene and Its Proximal Network across the Cancer Genome Atlas

Although theMYConcogene has been implicated incancer, a systematic assessment of alterations ofMYC, related transcription factors, and co-regulatoryproteins, forming the proximal MYC network (PMN),across human cancers is lacking. Using computa-tional approaches, we define genomic and proteo-mic features associated with MYC and the PMNacross the 33 cancers of The Cancer Genome Atlas.Pan-cancer, 28% of all samples had at least one ofthe MYC paralogs amplified. In contrast, the MYCantagonists MGA and MNT were the most frequentlymutated or deleted members, proposing a roleas tumor suppressors.MYCalterations were mutu-ally exclusive withPIK3CA,PTEN,APC,orBRAFalterations, suggesting that MYC is a distinct onco-genic driver. Expression analysis revealed MYC-associated pathways in tumor subtypes, such asimmune response and growth factor signaling; chro-matin, translation, and DNA replication/repair wereconserved pan-cancer. This analysis reveals insightsinto MYC biology and is a reference for biomarkersand therapeutics for cancers with alterations ofMYC or the PMN

Genomic, Pathway Network, and Immunologic Features Distinguishing Squamous Carcinomas

This integrated, multiplatform PanCancer Atlas study co-mapped and identified distinguishing molecular features of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from five sites associated with smokin

Spatial Organization and Molecular Correlation of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes Using Deep Learning on Pathology Images

Beyond sample curation and basic pathologic characterization, the digitized H&E-stained images of TCGA samples remain underutilized. To highlight this resource, we present mappings of tumorinfiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) based on H&E images from 13 TCGA tumor types. These TIL maps are derived through computational staining using a convolutional neural network trained to classify patches of images. Affinity propagation revealed local spatial structure in TIL patterns and correlation with overall survival. TIL map structural patterns were grouped using standard histopathological parameters. These patterns are enriched in particular T cell subpopulations derived from molecular measures. TIL densities and spatial structure were differentially enriched among tumor types, immune subtypes, and tumor molecular subtypes, implying that spatial infiltrate state could reflect particular tumor cell aberration states. Obtaining spatial lymphocytic patterns linked to the rich genomic characterization of TCGA samples demonstrates one use for the TCGA image archives with insights into the tumor-immune microenvironment

Integrated Genomic Analysis of the Ubiquitin Pathway across Cancer Types

Protein ubiquitination is a dynamic and reversibleprocess of adding single ubiquitin molecules orvarious ubiquitin chains to target proteins. Here,using multidimensional omic data of 9,125 tumorsamples across 33 cancer types from The CancerGenome Atlas, we perform comprehensive molecu-lar characterization of 929 ubiquitin-related genesand 95 deubiquitinase genes. Among them, we sys-tematically identify top somatic driver candidates,including mutatedFBXW7with cancer-type-specificpatterns and amplifiedMDM2showing a mutuallyexclusive pattern withBRAFmutations. Ubiquitinpathway genes tend to be upregulated in cancermediated by diverse mechanisms. By integratingpan-cancer multiomic data, we identify a group oftumor samples that exhibit worse prognosis. Thesesamples are consistently associated with the upre-gulation of cell-cycle and DNA repair pathways, char-acterized by mutatedTP53,MYC/TERTamplifica-tion, andAPC/PTENdeletion. Our analysishighlights the importance of the ubiquitin pathwayin cancer development and lays a foundation fordeveloping relevant therapeutic strategies